A Battle Droid in the Rebellion
by Deergenerate
Summary: During the 'Last Battle' of the Clone Wars, a battle droid ends up on the same shuttle as the Ghost Crew. Suffice to say, he is quick to join in the fight against the Empire, mainly because the alternative is being blasted out of an airlock.
1. Chapter 1: OM-17

With a deafening boom, the proton torpedos exploded, spewing fire and ion in every direction. The AT-AT didn't have a chance and simply collapsed as it's entire front half was destroyed.

"This might be our only chance," Cried Ezra. "Get to the ships!"

The rebels and their droid allies were quick to do just that, rushing to the Sheathipede transports.

"I made it! I made it!" One droid shouted in a shrill voice as he got onto the metal gangplank. Unfortunately, the cruiser had started to rise into the air, and he lost his footing.

"A-Aahhh!" He screamed as he stumbled and lost his footing.

Fortunately for him, a certain Padawan who happens to be a little too helpful and idealistic noticed him as he fell and reached out with the force catching him inches from the ground.

"Come on." He grunted as the shuttle's gangplank started to close and it began rising into the air with a quick force pull, the droid rocketed through the air and slammed into Ezra just as the doors closed.

"Lead shuttle bank right!" Rex shouted as the front shuttle failed to notice the shadow of the second AT-AT in the dust crowd. It was too late, and the transport was hit, sent flying out of the air, where it crashed in a fire ball below.

Luckily for the rebels, the first shuttle came crashing down into the front of the AT-AT, knocking it's guns aside, allowing the other two to sail right past it.

"Hey hey!" Zeb roared pumping his fist. "We made it!" Rex climbed into the back to join the rest of the team. He scanned the team, before raising an eyebrow.

"Hold on, hold on, hold on." Rex said, stopping Zeb's celebrations. Kanan and Zeb turned towards him, although since Kanan was blind that was a hollow gesture.

"Where's Ezra?" He asked with a frown.

"Oh..." They heard a groan, quickly turning to see Ezra pinned to the ground by the tan form of a battle droid.

"Ezra? You ok?" Kanan asked. Rex merely glared at the droid as Zeb walked forward, easily pulling the droid off him with one hand and holding it with it's feet dangling off the floor as he helped Ezra to his feet.

"Who'd of though something so thin could be so heavy?" Ezra asked rubbing his head.

"That or you're just weak." Zeb chuckled as he stared at the droid, who turned it's head back to him.

"Can you let me go now?" The Droid asked.

"Not until we figure out what to do with you." Kanan said, noticing how quiet Rex was being. He couldn't see his glare, but he could sense how he was feeling right now, and it wasn't good. He sensed anger, and resentment.

A hologram flashed into the center of the room, showing General Kalani. "Well done, we have successfully escaped the Imperial attack. Now, since I only calculate a less than one percent chance of you succeeding against the Empire, this is where we must part ways."

"Less than one percent? Ouch." Kanan said crossing his arms and smiling.

"0.005% to be more accurate." Kalani said.

"Hey, wait. Before you go, what should we do with this bucket of bolts?" Zeb asked as he raised the battle droid he had in his hand.

Kalani looked at him, then to the droid. He was quiet for a second or two.

"Keep him." Kalani said curtly, and then ended the transmission.

"Hey!" The droid shouted as Zeb dropped him to the ground, where he crumbled to the ground.

"What are we supposed to do with him? I don't need another droid around, isn't chopper enough?" Zeb hissed as he glared down at it.

"I say we keep it." Kanan said, crossing his arms over his chest. "It always helps to have people with combat experience around, and droids don't need food or water, so it's not like it will hamper our supplies any."

"I think combat experience is stretching it. A lot." Rex said as he walked forwards and knelt down besides the droid. "These things can barely be classified as soldiers."

"Let's leave this up to Hera ok?" Ezra said as he helped the battle droid to his feet. "What's your name anyway?"

"OM-17." The battle droid said as he stood up.


	2. Chapter 2: Meeting Hera

Authors note: This story is going to, unfortunately, have to switch the order in which some episodes occurred in, as well as include lots of stuff from legends, including characters, ships and races. Well, that's not unfortunate, because legends is cool.

It was a bit of a struggle to get around to actually having a meeting with Hera, as she was currently escaping from an Imperial star destroyer or two when the Ghost Crew contacted her, but after about an hour or two of dogfighting and daring escapes, the Ghost had managed to make the jump back to Atallon.

The Sheathepede the rebels made off with, now renamed as, rather bluntly, Phantom 2, landed at Chopper Base. With a hiss of steam the bay door opened and Kanan, Zeb and Rex walked out.

Sabrine was waiting outside for them, hand on her hips and her helmet still on. "Well well well, what do we have here?" She chuckled.

"Separatist transport," Kanan said as he walked up to her. "Think you can give it some weapons and make it compatible with the Ghost's docking port?"

Sabrine smiled under her helmet and cracked her knuckles. "Is the Mythosaur extinct?" She asked.

"Uh..." Zeb muttered.

"Sorry, Mandalorian expression," Sabrine said as he turned to get her tools. "It means yes."

"Ah, right," Zeb said rubbing the back of his head.

"Wait, before I go," Sabrine turned around. "What did you guys want Hera for again?"

"We wanted to introduce her to a new member of our crew," Ezra said as he walked down the Sheathepede's gangplank. Sabrine cocked an eyebrow when Rex growled, but she quickly understood why.

A battle droid, blaster in both hands, marched out of the Sheathepede. Literally marched. Sabrine guessed she could excuse that. Apparently, the Separatists programmed their battle droids to only be able to march, or sometimes run.

"New member of the crew?" Sabrine asked confusedly. "You're making a battle droid a new member of the crew? You know these things are mindless killing machines right? Granted, B-1s aren't good at the killing part..."

"Hey!" OM-17 cried in his stereotypical high pitched wimpy voice. "I'm not mindless!"

"And your not part of our crew yet. No matter what Ezra says." Rex hissed. Ezra couldn't help but glare back at him in response. Kanan frowned behind his blindfold and Zeb glanced between the two, expecting a fight, one Ezra would loose.

Sabrine cleared her throat to break up the tension of the two. "Well uh, Hera is over unloading the Ghost with the rest of Phoenix Squadron, you can speak to her over there. I'm going to go ahead and focus on getting this ship to work." She quickly turned to get her tools and ran off.

Kanan and Zeb started walking with OM-17 and Ezra while Rex skulked off. "Before we go in to meet with her," Kanan said slowly. "You weren't involved in the Battle of Ryloth were you?"

OM-17 glanced at him and made a sound that resembled a gulp. "Is it bad if I was?"

Zeb and Ezra both shot glances to each other. "Maybe she won't hold a grudge?" Zeb wondered.

"Maybe she will," Kanan replied.

OM-17 felt his power battery sink. "C-can you guys take me back to Agamar please?" He whimpered. The rebels ignored him.

* * *

Hera sat at a desk outside of the ghost going over stocks while the rest of Pheonix Squadron went about unloading collecting the fuel stocks her and Sabrine had pulled out of the imperial refueling station. She smiled. Now they were only short on food. That shouldn't be an issue, they could just roll up to the nearest farming world, barely a parsec away, and purchase some.

She sighed happily and set down her manifest, standing up and stretching. She liked the heat here on Atallon. It reminded her so much of home. That was nice. So very nice.

"AP-5 did you check out the energy batteries for the astromech droids?" Hera asked.

"I did captain, all droids are operating at peak capacity. We also have enough energy cells to take on additional astromechs, alongside several other classes of droids. I am thinking security droids, your rebels are remarkably unruly." AP-5 said.

Hera chuckled. "I'll keep that in mind AP." She said.

"Hey Hera!" She heard Kanan say behind her.

"Kanan! Glad to see your back. Did you get the proton torpe-" Her voice caught in her throat when she saw what was walking alongside them. A B1 Battle Droid with blaster raised.

The Twi-lek quickly raised her blaster pistol and fired. Thankfully her quick pace in shooting made her rather inaccurate. The red bolt flew through the air, before striking the dirt an inch away from one of the droid's metal feet.

"Waaah!" The Droid screamed, pulling up the leg almost hit and staggered away from the burn mark on one foot. He tripped on a small rock and fell face-first to the ground, allowing Hera to line her next shot perfectly.

"This is for Ryloth you soulless piece of trash!" She screamed at it.

"Hey hey hey! Hera!" Ezra said stepping in front of the Droid. "He's friendly!"

Rex, Kanan, and Zeb glanced between the two in a mild panic.

"Move aside Ezra. These things are murderers programmed only to mindlessly kill!" She said as she approached. Ezra suddenly ignited his lightsaber and held it protectively in front of him. The rest of Pheonix Squadron, who had been watching the event unfold pulled out their weapons and aimed them squarely at Ezra. The rest of the Spectres stepped forwards.

"What are you doing Ezra?" Rex said, his blaster pistols pointed at the Padawan. Kanan put an arm on his shoulder and shook his head at the clone. The former captain sighed and put away his blasters.

"Look at him Hera." He hissed. "He doesn't look like a mindless killing machine to me."

Hera glared at him for a second before peaking around him. She then saw something she never thought she would see in her entire life. The Battle Droid was covering his head with his arms and whimpering, his blaster uselessly thrown aside.

She stared at him for a second. The supposed monsters of Ryloth, the boogie men that kept her awake when she was younger, the things whose marching metal feet kept her awake while her father and the rest of the resistance hid in caves... was afraid of her?

Hera sighed and slid her pistol back into the holster around her waist. The rest of Pheonix Squadron complied as well, putting their weapons away.

"You weren't there Ezra. You don't know what those things are capable of." Hera said turning away and walking towards the entrance to the Ghost.

Ezra sighed and put away his lightsaber. He turned around a reached out a hand for the Droid. "I don't know what everyone is on about. You don't look like a mindless killing machine to me." He said as he pulled the Droid up.

Om-17 sighed. "T-thanks I guess," he said as he picked up his blaster rifle, he reached over his head with the rifle and attached it to his back.

"Come on. We had better meet with Pheonix Command to figure out what to do with you." Kanan said as he put a hand on each of their shoulders, leading them towards the Command Center.

Rex sighed and turned to follow after Hera.


	3. Chapter 3: Getting a Mission

Kanan and Ezra walked alongside OM-17 as they lead him through Chopper Base.

"Why is everyone staring at me?" OM-17 suddenly asked, causing Ezra to raise an eyebrow and cock his head to look around. Sure enough, many of the members of Pheonix Squadron had stopped what they were doing to look at the droid, varying emotions written on their faces.

Some looked at him with fear, others with interest, curiosity or even glee, and some looked at him with anger.

"Many of the people in Pheonix Squadron were kids when the Clone Wars occurred. I'm sure they heard the stories or propaganda about you droids be they from the Republic or Separatists." Kanan said as the three closed in on the command center.

OM-17 straightened up. "Programming dictates that the proper term is Confederate, sir," OM-17 said in a slightly more robotic tone.

"Confederate? I have always just heard you guys referred to as Separatists, Battle Droids, Clankers... Never Confederates." Ezra started with a raised eyebrow.

"The people who programmed OM-17 thought Separatists was an incorrect term and that their split from the Republic was legitimate, so they called themselves the Confederacy of Independent Systems. I guess the ones who programmed 17 here were particularly dedicated to that line of thinking." Kanan replied as they finally arrived at the Command Center.

Admiral Sato was speaking with the holographic forms of Bail Organa and Mon Mothma, but the conversation immediately stopped, and all heads turned to see Kanan, Ezra and the Droid.

"Well, this is rather... unexpected." Mon Mothma said as she looked at the droid.

"Sirs, ma'am may I introduce OM-17," Kanan said placing a hand on the Droid's shoulder and pushing him forwards. The Droid stumbled slightly but straightened up.

"Uhhh... Hello." He said quietly, waving meekly at the leaders of the rebellion.

Bail Organa and Mon Mothma glanced at each other while Jun Sato stepped forwards. The Droid flinched when Jun stuck a hand forwards. When nothing happened he glanced back to see Jun Sato holding out a hand for him to take, an eyebrow raised.

"S-sorry. Force of habit." He said slowly. "I'm used to uhh... _punchy_ commanders."

The droid took Jun's hand and shook it. "It is an honor to have another veteran of the Clone Wars amongst our ranks."

The hologram of Mon Mothma turned to look at Kanan and Ezra. "Where exactly did you find Mr. 17 if I may ask?" She asked the two Jedi.

"We found this old crashed Separatist-" Ezra started.

"Confederate." OM-17 interrupted.

"_Confederate _transport ship on Agamar where a bunch of battle droids were living since the end of the war. The Empire attacked and we and the droids escaped on shuttles. OM-17 ended up on our ship." The Padawan explained as Mon Mothma and Bail Organa listened intently.

"Hmmm, this could actually prove somewhat useful." Bail Organa said placing a hand on his chin. "Tell me droid, were you forged on Geonosis?"

OM-17 nodded, proudly straightening up. "Yes sir! Unit OM-17 Division 778, forged in Factory 89 under the Im'g'twe Hills!"

Bail Organa nodded. "Good, that means you'll be useful for this mission."

"Mission?" Kanan asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Recently, Saw Gerarra went on a mission to explore Geonosis and figure out what happened to the native Geonosians. We lost contact with them." Mon Mothma explained. "Since OM-17 was built on Geonosis, he would likely be a good guide for you and the rest of the Spectres."

OM-17 flinched at that name. "S-Saw Gerarra? You mean the terrorist of Onderon?" That was a name he hoped he would never hear again. He still had the rechargemares of when one of Saw's Terrorists ripped OM-18's head off.

"Are you sure? I am pretty sure that Saw is the most anti-battle droid person in the galaxy. I think sending a battle droid to look for him might be a little... bad." Kanan said, concern ripe in his voice.

Jun Sato stepped forwards, arms crossed over his chest. "Don't worry. I know what to do about that."

The commander snapped his fingers and two members of Pheonix Squadron approached. They put a hand on either of OM-17's shoulders and started to lead him away.

* * *

Hera Syndulla sighed as she sat in her cockpit. She was positively fuming.

"Mind if we talk?" She heard from behind her. The Twi'lek swiveled in her chair to see Rex.

Hera sighed and turned back to the cockpit's window. "Sure." She said quietly.

"I know how you feel about the droid," Rex said as he sat down next to her. "Believe me, I lost more than a couple of friends, brothers, even, to those clankers."

Hera sighed. "It's not the same..." She said leaning back in the chair. "You were a killing machine back in the day. You probably single-handedly killed more droids than any other clone back in the day."

Rex chuckled. "Not really. I think good old Captain Fordo beat me out by a hundred or so."

Hera rolled her eyes and continued. "When the Separatists came to my planet, I was a little girl, and I couldn't do anything against them. I just saw the thousands of marching metal feet and the massive forms of their transports as they conquered our cities and villages."

Rex placed a hand on her shoulder. "I can only imagine how that felt..." He said slowly.

"You clones..." Hera said shaking her head. "You were basically built to be the perfect soldiers. You could fight those buckets of bolts better than anyone else in the galaxy, but... The Rhyloth PDF didn't stand a chance when they tried to defend us... That's how I lost-"

She was cut off Ezra entering the cockpit. "Suit up guys, we have ourselves another mission!"


End file.
